SELECTION OF STOCK. 1 09 



SELECTION OF STOCK FOR VIGOR AND PRODUC- 

 TIVENESS. 



To grasp this question fully we must first 

 realize that the violet, like other plants, is a plastic 

 organism that within a certain range it has power 

 to change or to adapt itself to the conditions which 

 surround it. This plasticity or adaptability of the 

 plant is of the utmost importance, for if all its 

 functions were fixed absolutely it could not suffer 

 any change for long, however slight. We find, 

 therefore, in practice, that plants grown in one 

 section and moved to another behave differently 

 it may be in the matter of time of blooming, quan- 

 tity of flowers, character of foliage, size or color of 

 flowers, length of flower stem, or in many other 

 directions. Recognizing this fact, and those that 

 are naturally correlated with it, we have the 

 important practical conclusion that the only 

 way for a man to attain the maximum 

 results from the plants is to work 

 steadily, intelligently, and rationally 

 toward the end of developing a strain 

 which will fit the conditions which 

 practice and judgment enable him to 

 provide. Of course, the man himself is limited 

 in this matter, but he should endeavor first of all 

 to find out what his limitations are and then con- 

 centrate his efforts in the field where there is hope 

 of practical results. As a matter of fact, the 

 limitations are more fancied than real and where 



